By Pat Bradley
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-995489.mp3
Montpelier, VT – Under the national Affordable Care Act, health insurance exchanges must be created by each state by 2014. On Tuesday the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that 13 states would receive a total of $220 million in grants to help set up those exchanges. The 18 million dollars that Vermont receives will help establish the Vermont Health Benefit Exchange. Vermont Health Care Reform Director Robin Lunge says the money will be used in two different ways.
While the funds will not specifically be used to convert to Vermont's planned single payer system, Robin Lunge says the money will indirectly help.
The Green Mountain Health Care Board is a five member panel charged with approving the design and implementation of a universal health benefit program and creation of a health care cost containment system in Vermont. Chair Anya Rader-Wallach says they will receive about 300-thousand dollars from this federal grant.
The group Vermonters for Health Care Freedom is opposed to the single payer system that the state is moving towards. Founder Darcie Johnston says this grant is providing a lot of money to establish an exchange.
The exchanges the grant will help create in Vermont and across the country are intended to provide consumer choice and help the uninsured buy private health insurance through online marketplaces.